This invention relates generally to pneumatically inflated small boats and methods for making same and particularly to the structure and method for making an inflatable mini-boat having a compliant hull structure sealingly formed from two mirror imaged sections of inflatable material.
Small pneumatically inflated rafts having capacities of one or more persons have long been used for recreational purposes on relatively placid waters and also as life rafts in emergency situations. Typical designs of such rafts basically provide for a ring shaped closed tube or toroid fabricated from tailored segments of an elastomer coated fabric and bonded together with adhesives. These rafts have floors of similar material likewise bonded to the fabric of the tube and spanning the enclosed areas so as to support the occupant above the water and within the confines of the tube. Such designs do not conform easily to high production techniques and are relatively expensive. In a tubular hulled pneumatic raft, the pressure of the contained gas distends the tube until the wall is taut and expands it laterally to stretch the floor and provide the characteristic structural stiffness of these craft. In the smaller sizes of these rafts, the center of gravity of the seated occupant's body is often too high with respect to the center of buoyancy of the tube to afford stability in rough water, thereby resulting in serious insecurity for the occupant if the water is slightly turbulent. Another type of raft, often motorized, comprises principally a parallel pair of spaced apart pneumatic pontoons which form a lateral structure having a faired bow separating the pontoon, a floor of coated fabric, and a floored structure including a transom for supporting the motor. This type of raft is seldom used for emergency life support where compact stowage and fast emergency deployment and boarding are critical design factors.